


Moon Bitten

by guysinmyhead



Series: Porsche Hauptman [1]
Category: Alpha and Omega - Patricia Briggs, Mercy Thompson Series - Patricia Briggs
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-11
Updated: 2017-03-16
Packaged: 2018-08-30 10:09:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 15
Words: 20,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8528989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/guysinmyhead/pseuds/guysinmyhead
Summary: Serious rewriting of a fan fiction of mine from years ago.*~*~*Against all odds and, honestly, against Mercy's mental self image, she has a daughter.What kind of trouble ensues from a teen half-wolf?





	1. Chapter 1

“Let me go!” A young female voice screamed. In the basement of a tiny Montana home, a woman with reddish-brown hair flipped the light switch just before two men dragged a sweat-drenched teen down the stairs. 

“Shhh,” The woman soothed, helping to pull a blood-and-sweat stained shirt up over the younger girl’s head. The younger woman was trembling, whether it was from the cold or her state of panic, it was hard to tell.

“Can someone grab gauze. I just want to disinfect it before she changes.” A man taller than the both of them with light brown hair was helping to hold the teen steady. Another man, this one with tanner skin, much darker and longer hair, but still similar features rummaged through a first-aide kid. 

Disinfectant and gauze were promptly placed into the first man’s hand.

“Little wolf,” The latter warned the teen calmly while she writhed, attempting to escape the grasp of the three holding her down. “Not yet.”

“I can’t help it, Charles.” She panted out. There was an evident bullet wound in her shoulder and she groaned when the fair man attempted to disinfect it, clenching her eyes shut and gritting her teeth. 

“At least it isn’t silver.” The man tried to make light of the situation.

“Little sister,” The man called Charles scolded. “We aren’t ready for you to play.” The girl had opened her eyes and where they had previously held nearly pitch black irises, there was now one gold and one blue. “Sam.” It was a warning to the other man, working steadily on making sure the cut would heal.

“I called her parents, they’re on their way.” The woman said quickly.

“Let’s just give her space.” Sam stepped back. “We should lock it.” He motioned to the bars of a cage as he quickly cleaned up supplies. “She won’t want to hurt anyone, but this is her first time dealing with an injury of this nature. We can’t promise she won’t—“ He cut off when Charles yanked the teen back off the table by the waist. She had been centimeters from the doctor’s neck. “—try something like that.”

“Anna, please go upstairs.” Charles asked the older woman. “Please, now.”

She looked like she wanted to stay and help.

“Charles, she of everyone, is the person we need.” Sam reminded gently. 

“I’m going to let go,” Charles said, eerily calm. “I think we should all go upstairs and let her be for a moment. She isn’t going to be happy and she’s going to want space. Anna, I would prefer it if you would please go upstairs first. You don’t affect her the same way you affect others and right now, I don’t need a distraction.”

Anna nodded and made her way up the steps. When she was at the top, she turned around expectantly. Charles let go of the teenager. She was still shaking, if anything the tremors were getting worse.

“If you need us,” Sam told her, “Call for us, we’ll be upstairs. Right now, you just need to heal.”

***

When I woke up, it was to the sound of voices upstairs, all of them familiar. 

“She’s downstairs, I don’t know that she’s calmed down entirely. Up until about twenty minutes ago, she was still throwing herself at the bars.” That was Sam, one of my caregivers. He had been the one to suggest I come here in the first place. 

“Is she alright?” I hadn’t heard my father speak in what felt like forever. I had come to Aspen Creek when I was thirteen, again at Sam’s suggestion. He had wanted me to mentor under Charles, given that I had begun to show some strange symptoms during my changes. He was the closest thing to me in existence, the only other werewolf born as such. 

That said, I was a mutt. Coyotes and wolves don’t mix stunningly beautiful either, it winds up, because I was left with a dappled blue-grey coat and a white line across my face like lightening, grazing over my blue eye.

“She should be fine.” Charles now, my mentor in all things supernatural. He had mentored my mother before me. “She’s healing, she didn’t re-open anything.” 

I heard the door open and I glanced up. I could only see Sam from where I lay.

“She hasn’t changed back?” My mother was here, that was odd. Something must be seriously wrong. 

I couldn’t remember much of what had happened the night before. I know there was still an aching in my shoulder when I walked. 

“We can’t force her.” Charles said calmly. “She needed to change to heal, and now she’s comfortable.”

“She doesn’t respond the same way to pack magic, remember.” Sam lead them downstairs. I was in one of the safe houses, I knew that now. That was why it smelt near sterile. “We can’t force a change on her.”

“Does Bran have anything to say about that?” Mother again, she was right behind him. 

Charles smirked.

“He has a lot to say about it.”

I know my father was controlled, but three dominants in a room didn’t always mix well. 

“Porsche,” I had to intentionally remember not to look my mother in the eye. I was still her daughter, she wasn’t a wolf, but I didn’t want to upset my father. He was already under pressure. “What did you get yourself into.”

I whined. She scratched me behind the ear like a lapdog and I leaned into her hand.

“We can send her home—“ My ears focused on Sam and he gave me a smile. “I think she’s been waiting on that for a little while.”

It had been almost five years since I had been home for real. I had visited a few times, certainly my mother came up frequently, but I hadn’t been sure if I would ever go home. I was a part of the Marrok Pack and had been for that entire stretch of time. 

Neither my mother nor my father had wanted me to go. I was maybe too young to really understand why I was brought to work with Charles. I remember getting into fights with my father and no one knowing how to handle raising a teen wolf through puberty. I remember I did something that scared them, and my dad wanted to help protect me. 

“If she’s running around getting shot, that might be for the best.” I blinked at my dad and turned to my shoulder. 

Ah, so that’s what went wrong.

“She’s Mercy’s daughter, we tried to keep her out of the trouble, but she wanted to roll with the big dogs.” My grandfather—well, of sorts—had descended the stairs now. No one in the room was surprised by the sudden intrusion, we had all scented him coming. “How are you feeling, Porsche?”

My tongue lolled out.

“Much better than what I hear you felt like last night.” Bran gave me a small smile. Honestly, he liked like he could easily have been my age. I was a few months shy of eighteen, Bran could have been maybe two years older than me. His boyish grin and messy hair was not unattractive either. 

If I hadn’t known he saw my mother as a daughter and if I had no inkling of how old he was, I honestly might think he was sexy even.

Bran raised an eyebrow at me and I yipped, dipping my head.

I was just being honest.

He shook his head in amusement.

No one seemed to think too much of our exchange, probably for the better. Bran had a way of knowing what was in people’s minds. If that was something he inherited from his witch mother, it wasn’t something he shared. It wasn’t just related to his pack either, he always had a knack of knowing when I was in trouble, even when I was younger.

“Are you going to use your words soon, or are you looking for belly rubs?” He asked me. I puffed and Moved a step back from my mother, shaking myself off. 

Changes were quick and painless, like my mother’s. I felt tingly, though, that was uncomfortable. The Changes are what made Charles concerned a lot of the time. His were quick, partially because of magic and partially because of his dominance, but he wasn’t so immediate. My mother was immediate, but she was also a daughter of Coyote. I was easily almost as big as a standard werewolf, and I was a werewolf. I had coyote features in my facial structure, but that was about it. My strength and ability in a fight were all wolf, and that made any changes caused by aggravation to my wolf to be a million times more dangerous—because they were a million times more immediate.

“When did you learn that?” My mother’s voice was surprised. I had changed into a black t-shirt. I groaned.

“I still can’t get this right.” I looked pointedly at Charles. 

If you have ever had the misfortune of watching the Marrok’s second son laugh, I apologize. He looks scary no matter what he does, but laughing and smiling are horrible. This time, he was chuckling and pointing to my feet. I tugged the shirt down to be a little longer and looked down.

“Moccasins?” I squeaked. 

“It’s just a little practice, you’ll get there.” He promised.

Dad awkwardly handed me a pile of clothes and I slipped into pants and socks instead, opting to just keep the t-shirt I had. I guess no matter how many pack mates you see naked, seeing your daughter takes the cake.  
 “I’ve been practicing that since before last Christmas.” I told my mom. “Charles taught me how to use magic to my advantage.”

She frowned.

“He never taught me that.”

“We didn’t know what you were, then.” Charles reminded gently. “I thought we’d try that last for her.”

Sam beckoned me over to sit on the table and I stood at the door to the cage, waiting patiently for him to realize I couldn’t get through. When he finally let me in, I smiled and hopped up onto his work station.

“I just want to make sure it’s healing up fine before you go.” He cleaned up what was left of it and bandaged it securely enough. 

Anna hadn’t spoken a word this entire time. I knew she was still shy around my parents, she was a very quiet and soft-spoken person. I glanced at her and she offered a smile. 

“Do you want some help packing up before you go?” She asked. I nodded and looked to my mother, who was more than willing to send me off. 

We decided to walk to Bran’s.


	2. Chapter 2

“You’ll be relieved to be away from Leah, I’m sure.” She teased softly. Our alpha’s mate wasn’t home, but Anna wasn’t wrong. I easily lost patience with the woman and she treated me like the gum on the bottom of her shoes.  


 

“She’ll be glad to be rid of me.” I laughed as I re-folded clean laundry from my drawers before shoving them in boxes. 

“You’ll be much closer to Sam and his mate.” She said thoughtfully. “They still mostly live in the Tri-Cities, he never really came back here for more than helping to raise you.”

“Anna,” I started abruptly, “Why did they send me here? I don’t remember.”  
 The fair woman blinked, surprised by my question. It took her a moment before she could even open her mouth, and more than a few minutes to speak. We kept folding in silence until she did.

“There was a series of events that led to your father determining Aspen Creek was the safest place for you to be.” She began, “I don’t know how much of this they want you to know or how much of it they want to tell you themselves. I would imagine, they aren’t secretive people, and that they’d want to relay this to you themselves.” She chewed on her lip and folded a few more items. “You had an accident. In school, you made something disappear is my understanding. There was a girl who made fun of you and you were tired of her, but it wasn’t so much you in control at that point. That was the danger of your age, you weren’t fully able to control it yet, and your wolf managed to play a revenge prank. Except, the prank went wrong somewhere. I don’t, really think I know it all—“

“Scissors,” Bran had entered the room and I honestly had not realized it. Anna looked relieved. “You made her scissors disappear. The problem was, when they reappeared, she slipped and fell down a flight of stairs. It was innocent enough, but it got you expelled. She knew you had done it, and you had. But that was when your father started noticing you weren’t truly moon called and that you didn’t respect pack heirarchy—because you weren’t a part of it. You have your mother’s immunity to most magicks. But, you can use a little bit too, and that’s why the combination was getting hard to control without you learning how to use them while also managing to control your wolf. Montana was safer for you. Charles is the only other werewolf who had similar experiences, he could help you.”

I frowned, lacking memory of the experience entirely.

“It was a long time ago now, it seems.” Bran agreed. “Your control was on thin ice, I’m sure you are just experiencing some of those memory holes.” He looked to Anna.

She gave me a quick hug and made her way to her feet with a promise to return to say goodbye before I left. I watched her round the corner, heard the front door close, and proceeded with packing. Bran hesitantly, but smoothly, sat down on the floor with me.

“I made a mistake with your mother.” He started. “I didn’t show her that I cared about her. I think, in the long run, it did more damage than good. It took her a long time to realize that I thought of her like a daughter. I only ever wanted to protect her.” 

There was something in his hand, but I couldn’t see it.  
 “I have a gift for you, but you need to promise me something.” Just like Bran to make everything nice he does a conditional. “Stay out of trouble.” I opened my mouth to protest, I never intentionally went looking for the trouble because it always simply found me, but he stopped me with a look. “You’re of an age where trouble comes naturally, before you factor in whose daughter you are. Promise that you will stay out of trouble, you will do as you’re told. Your father is your father, but he is not going to hesitate to make an example out of you.” Bran was bluffing, he knew I could tell that but it was the sentiment all the same. “You have incredible worth as a member of any pack, we were lucky to host you here for so long. Most importantly, you will keep practicing what Charles has lent himself to try and teach you.” 

I had forgotten that leaving meant forging new pack bonds. It took me a second to process that his final statement had even happened before he held up a car key in front of me.

“That means everything he’s taught you.”

I stared at it.

“Bran…”

“It’s a namesake.” He smiled, dropping it into my hand. “Last, but not least, I would like to remind you that while you are almost eighteen, you are still living under your parents’ roof—though you are welcome home to mine at any given time. Your mother understands more than you think, but she isn’t one to tolerate sheer stupidity. You’ve gotten into trouble here.”

I flushed pink.

“And I can’t promise your father won’t rip someone apart for touching his daughter.”

“Bran, it was one—“ I stopped myself and sighed. No use lying amongst werewolves. “I promise, to the best of my ability.”

“That’s all I need.” He kissed the top of my head before he left, allowing me to finish packing up my room alone in silence.


	3. Chapter 3

The flight home had been boring and uneventful, mostly because I slept through it.  I had an inability to stay awake while flying, but I wasn’t going to complain. 

 

“We’re home.”  My dad shook my gently.  I curled closer to him, for the life of me I couldn’t remember the last time he’d let me lay so close to him, definitely long before I’d hit my teens.

 

He laughed silently, but I could feel it.  Pressing a kiss to the top of my head, he gently moved me again.  “Porsche, you’ll get to see your car.”

 

He had been less than thrilled when Bran revealed his present for me.  My mother had easily been the most shocked.  Bran had simply shrugged and let us know that the car would be home when we arrived.  

 

I don’t know how he does it.

 

We gathered bags at the Pasco airport, having decided to layover at Seattle and come via plane, and waited at pickup for whomever had decided to be our ride.

 

“Ben and Warren will be picking us up.”  My father was evidently internally struggling with the idea of my mother and I pulling my luggage.  He hadn’t pulled out the stops.  While much of my belongings would be shipped to me at home, we did pay to check several suitcases full of my things.  

 

I smiled to myself.  Both men had been reduced to essentially babysitters in my childhood and I felt close to them.  Little Sister settled in her approval, despite the hustle and bustle around us as well as the stinging pain still in my shoulder.

 

The suitcases honestly didn’t help that.

 

“Do you need to Change?”  My dad glanced at me, probably sensing that I was a little on edge.  I hadn’t had a break from people since we got on the flight and wolves didn’t take to strangers well while injured.  I was itching to change.

 

“I could use a stretch, yeah, but maybe we should wait?”  I offered.  I didn’t want to make the situation uncomfortable for anyone.  He raised an eyebrow.

 

“It’s going to be a little while before they get here, you’re welcome to go ahead.”  He moved to take my suitcase from me and grabbed the ones my mother had before I could protest.  “Do you have your bag?”  He asked her.  She rolled her eyes, hand on one hip—my mother was sometimes younger than I was.

 

“Yes, of course.  I always pack for emergencies when it comes to you.”  She snipped.  He chuckled.

 

“You should pack for emergencies because of yourself, honestly.”  He shook his head but motioned for us to leave before she could say anything.  My mother touched my good shoulder and guided me to the restrooms.

 

Upon finding the family restroom, she set her bag down and leaned against the wall.

 

I frowned.

 

“What’s in the bag?”  

 

“Something to keep us out of trouble with the authorities.”  She gave me that dangerous sort of smile and I decided I’d rather just take her word for it.  I stepped into the bathroom.

 

I hadn’t looked at myself in the mirror for a few hours, but I hadn’t showered since the incident.  I looked a mess.  My hair was sloppily tied back into a ponytail and sprayed to the nines with dry shampoo.  There were bags under my eyes, but I only had my mixed complexion to attribute that to.  I rinsed my face before stripping, my hair tie the last thing to fall into the pile before I changed.  Since mine were quick like my mother’s, they were also pretty painless.  

 

My shoulder was really the only thing to ache, and even that was feeling a little better with the change.  I bumped into the door to be let out.

 

My mother stepped quickly inside, pulling something out of her bag before stuffing my things all back into it.  I whined as I felt the harness strap onto me.

 

I was a service dog.  There was a fucking service dog harness in my mother’s bag.

 

“I know, it’s not my favorite thing either.  Thankfully, you look the most like a house pet of all of us, and it’s an anxiety dog.  You don’t need to be in the full harness, just the blanket.”  She sympathized.  I scratched at it.  “We’re in an airport, leave it.  How’s the shoulder?”

 

I stretched and yipped.

 

“Good.”

 

We left and went to find my father.

 

***

 

“There they are.”  My father sighed in relief.  I smiled to myself, letting my tail wag.  

 

“Porsche, your teeth.”  My mother chuckled as a younger woman with two children gave me one look and hurried her kids in the other direction.  

 

I huffed.

 

“There’s our little Montana princess.”  Warren joked, stepping out of the car.  I don’t know how to describe the sound that came out of my mouth, but it was excited.  I eagerly knocked him over.  “I know, I haven’t seen you in a while either.  I see a bullet wound can’t stop you.”  He gently pushed me aside after a couple of behind-the-ear rubs so that he could stand and brush himself off.  He greeted my parents and immediately began to help them load the van.

 

“Ok, where’s the devil?”  I had known my whole life that Ben was from England.  While a lot of his words were still fairly colloquial, his accent had always been faint for as long as I could remember.  He had come here before I’d been born after a series of rapes happened around where he had lived in England.  His pack wanted him to leave, and the Marrok happily placed him with my father’s pack in the Tri-Cities.  I knew a lot of pack members disliked him, believing that he had committed the crimes he was accused of and further that he absolutely hated women.  He had been a friend to my mother though, and he had been one of the very few pack members entrusted with keeping me safe from a young age.  

 

I don’t know the truth, but I’d trust him with my life.

 

How voice made my ears perk up.  My wolf got anxious, I had never felt her like this before.  

 

“Porsche?”  His voice changed, I couldn’t place it.  Something wasn’t right with him.

 

But, something wasn’t right with me either.  I heard my cellphone go off, Bran’s ringtone.  I couldn’t answer it obviously in my state, but I was also frozen in place staring at _him_.  He was blinking, every few seconds amber eyes would stare back at me.

 

No one answered my phone.  My mother’s hand was on my father’s shoulder.  They were behind me, but I had heard her move.  Warren was closest to Ben, by the trunk, and he grabbed the back of his t-shirt.

 

Ben still wasn’t an out werewolf, we were amongst easily the largest concentrated number of people in the entire Tri-Cities.  He wasn’t out because it was difficult enough for him to control himself sometimes, and he didn’t want to be able to justify any impulsive changes or actions because of it.

 

“Ben.”  Warren warned, the sound when Ben adjusted his shoulders was sickeningly close to the beginning of a change.  

 

I could see him struggling and I wanted to help, but I didn’t know how.  I whined.

 

“Boss,”  Ben gritted out.  His eyes were shut and he was trying to breathe, but I could see his fists clenched.  I could smell his fear and his tension, it rolled off him like waves.  “I need to take a minute.”

 

“I can go with him.”  Warren offered calmly.

 

“I’ll go, you stay with Mercy and Porsche.”  My father brushed past me.  He shared a knowing look with Warren and pulled Ben in the direction of the parking lot.  

 

My mother stepped closer to Warren, looking at him with worry so evident in just her expression alone.

 

“He’ll be fine, Mercy, Adam isn’t going to rip him apart.  Ben is old enough to know how to handle himself.”  Warren assured her and she raised an eyebrow.  He sighed,  “It’s been a long time coming, Mercy.  You know that.”

 

She seemed to silently agree with him and she pulled my cellphone out of my bag.  

 

“Porsche, Bran wants to talk with you it looks like.”

 

I could talk when we got home.  I was too invested in understanding what was going on in the moment.


	4. Chapter 4

We heard the echo of Ben hitting a lamppost several lots beyond where we stood and his exclamation of several, colourful curses.  I couldn’t identify any conversation, though.  They were too far away and even if they hadn’t been, the hustle and bustle of an airport is enough to cover up most things. 

  
Five of us now packed into a van.  My father didn’t drive, despite his over-controlling nature.  Instead, Ben drove and Warren and my mother sat with me.  The latter was forced into the middle seat while I stuck my head out the window.

 

“Porsche, that’s _dangerous_.” My father tried to close the window on me, but I refused to move.  

 

“It’s refreshing.”  My mother laughed.  “Nice to get some air in here.”

 

“The tension is so thick, I could cut it with a butter knife otherwise.”  Warren drawled with a smile.  

 

“Porsche, you are going to fall _out of the car_.”  Dad’s voice was getting closer to his dangerous Porsche-you’re-in-trouble voice.  By now, my paws were leaning on the frame of the door as I hung out.  “We’re almost home, can you please sit inside the car?”  

 

I whined but obliged, sitting with all body parts inside the moving vehicle for the last five minutes of the drive.

 

“Fun sponge.”  My mom teased him and he glanced back at her with an eyebrow raised.

 

“She’s already been shot, need we add more injury?”

 

I hopped gingerly out of the car when the door was opened for me and my mother brought my bag inside with a reminder to call Bran.  

 

I trotted into the kitchen and stretched out.  Being cooped up in a car is no fun for anyone, after all.

 

One more yawn and I attempted to change.  I felt the clothes encompass my top half and groaned in despair when I was left, for the second change in a row, without pants.  That said, living in Bran’s home had spoiled me.  He was an alpha no one bothered. No pack members would be found at his house.  This was probably unrelated to him and entirely to do with his mate, Leah, but nonetheless.  I didn’t expect anyone to come up the stairs and see me.

 

I also really didn’t expect it when Ben rushed by me in a flash, successfully knocking my accident-prone self into Warren’s arms.  I stood up in time to see a man I was able to barely recognize as Scott being pinned to the wall by Ben.

 

I tugged my shirt lower, in a split second my mother had already tossed me pants and my father had rushed inside.

 

“Mine.” Ben growled.

 

_Mine._

 

What?

 

I glanced at my mother but she was too involved in watching the scene to glance back at me.  

 

Being an unmated female in pack hierarchy was difficult, especially when you took after your mother and remained immune to most magic.  That said, I hadn’t expected a full out fight for my honor.  Nothing of that sort had ever happened before nor at Aspen Creek.

 

“Get dressed.”  Warren soothed, “No one will get hurt.”

 

“The fact that you think this has anything to do with what I am wearing is so… _antiquated_.”   I grumbled.

 

“Porsche,”  My mother finally glanced at me, “Normally, I’d love to agree, but it’s very important right now—“

 

Bran’s ringtone went off again.  

 

“Answer it.”  My dad didn’t even turn to look at it.  He hadn’t spoken a word since he’d entered the scene, instead he was physically separating the two men in the living room.  “Step outside, Porsche.”  

 

I hurried into the pants and grabbed my phone from the counter, bolting the door behind me to keep it open.  

 

“Porsche, already stirring up trouble?”  Bran’s voice answered smoothly when I called him back.

 

“You always call at the worst times.”  I sighed, sitting on the grass cross-legged and tucking my feet beneath me.  “I don’t know how you do it.”

 

“I  wanted to make sure you all got home safe.”  He explained, and I really couldn’t tell if that was a lie.  “The car should be there in a day or two.”  I nodded to myself, picking at the lawn beneath my fingers with the phone resting between my ear and shoulder.

 

“How’s Ben?”

 

I froze.

 

“What?”

 

“How’s Ben?”  Bran chuckled.

 

“Bran, if you understand any of this at all, please explain it to me.”  I took the phone in my hand and glanced behind me at the house.  No sounds indicative of a fight breaking out, I was pretty content.  

 

“So I was right.”  It was a statement, void of any curiosity.  

 

I had to roll my yes, of course he was right.  I wondered if I had said it aloud when Bran chuckled to himself again.  

 

“You haven’t left my pack yet, Porsche Hauptman.”  He reminded,  “I know when a pack member has found a mate.”  

 

I hissed and he actually laughed.  It was a laugh you would expect to hear from a round old story-teller, never something you would think to hear out of someone like Bran.  

 

“I’m not surprised it’s him.”  He settled down, the amusement still evident in his voice.  “He’s been holding his wolf back since you were probably fifteen.”  I grimaced.  “Maybe longer, but I wouldn’t know.”

 

One thing I’ve learned about the Marrok is that, if anyone knows, it’s him.  

 

“I had to deal with the worst of your hormonal teen years, I can only imagine what having a mate is going to put your parents through.”  I blushed.  I was only 17, but Bran had been there when I went through that awkward stage where boys get boners for no reason.  Girls have problems too, no one talks about it, and between the two of us we probably didn’t have enough fingers to count how many times it had gotten me into trouble.  “I just hope he knows that he’s going to have to learn to watch his temper, you’re as much a trouble maker as your mother.”

 

“I’m not!”  I snapped at him.  

 

“Goodbye, Porsche, I’m glad you’ve gotten home safely.”  The line went dead.

 

His scent hit me before I even heard him close the door.  I turned quickly enough to see Ben make his way to his truck.  

 

He had had a truck for as long as I could remember, but this one was newer.  I could imagine my mother saying that the other was too expensive to try to keep running might have been the thing that did it for him.  

 

“Ben—“  I didn’t mean to sound apologetic, but I was.  While it wasn’t the least bit my fault that he was unable to control himself, I could have been more understanding of his state.   If my wolf was a physical being inside of my head, she was pacing anxiously.  

 

“I’m a little on edge right now.”  He gripped the frame of the door, the driver’s window was open. 

 

No one would rob a car outside of a known werewolf alpha’s home.

 

“I know,”  I made my way over to him.  “I…” I paused, laying my hand on the inside of his arm just below his elbow.  “I’m sorry.”

 

He relaxed a little bit.  He was leaning on the car now, not gripping it so tightly.  His eyes were closed.  

 

“Don’t apologize.”  He was holding his breath, I could see it now.  His grip tightened again before he made a fist and, not with enough force to do damage, lifted it and brought it back down where it had been gripping the frame moments before.  “I need to go.  Feel better.”

 

I stepped back, surprised.

 

“Don’t push him like that, hun.”  Warren’s voice was sympathetic.  “He’s trying his hardest right now to not rip those jeans back off and fuck you.”  There was his smile.  Ben had already pulled out of the driveway, but I’m sure he could hear us.

 

“I don’t understand.”  I crossed my arms. 

  
“What did Bran say?”  

 

“Where are my parents?”  I looked past him as I got closer.

 

“They’re talking about what happened, that’s what the music is.  George is settling down downstairs.”  He guided me back into the living room and onto the couch.  “Porsche, you’re getting a little too big to lay on me, now.”  He laughed and I pouted, however childishly.

 

“I’ve had a stressful day.”  I whined, “And I’m injured.  Please?”

 

“Fine.”  He shook his head, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

 

I don’t know how long we laid there watching TV.  I remember a movie was playing on Lifetime about a horse.  I remember mumbling something silly about Warren’s accent, but eventually I just drifted off to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

_3rd Person POV_

“Shhhh,” Mercy and Adam had returned from their conversation upstairs to see Warren resting on the couch and their daughter laying on top of them. Adam gave a tired smile, tears welling up in his eyes. The little girl with almost black hair would always be his baby girl. How many times had he walked into the home from a day of work with her laying in that exact position?

Warren was overemphasizing his old accent.    
“The little lady is asleep.”

The former cowboy shifted slowly and gently eased the young woman off of him. It wasn’t too difficult, she was tiny at only 5’6” and her only weight was a combination of lean muscle and DD breasts (which Mercy claimed she got from her grandmother). Porsche called herself “tits on a stick.”

“Thank you.” Mercy nodded to the lump on the couch.

“Anytime.” The wolf paused for a moment. “He’s a good man.”

“I know, Warren.” Adam’s voice held a promise.

The only lights were coming from the TV and a tiny, single yellow bulb over the double sink. The air room was quiet except for breathing and the neighbor’s car coming up the street. Porsche curled closer to the couch.

“He was trying to protect her, you know how restless the wolves have been getting.” The pack third felt it right to stick up for the man who had become one of his best friends over the years. “It’s difficult with the unmated females. I don’t think he means for it to go so far.”

“He claimed her.” Mercy raised an eyebrow.

"I know. I can't defend that as an action. I can say that he had only meant it as a scare tactic." Warren dipped his head. "I need to get home." Mercy gave him a hug and he gave his alpha a look.

When the door closed and the car backed out of the driveway, Adam kissed his mate on the forehead. His chocolate brown eyes looked black in the dim light.

"Go to bed. I'll come in a moment." Mercy bristled even a little over twenty years after they'd married at hearing him boss her around and she shook his head with a smile.

He watched her give in and, with obvious irritation, climb the stairs. As she did, his eyes left her rear side and focused on his daughter. He pulled a blanket off the nearby armchair and laid it over her before laying on the floor beside her couch.

She was his baby. He was blessed with two daughters.

He has seen the first grow up and choose her own paths. He met her boyfriends, knew she'd found the one for her when she talked about him. He handed her away at her wedding. It was a fairytale ending in the best ways.

The man was worried his younger daughter would never have the chance. She was born wolf, put in a hierarchy where she couldn't be her own. She could be in some respects, he and Mercy had actively worked on women in pack rank since before they'd even been pregnant. Porsche still faced challenges with being accepted, she was only half wolf. She was immune to most magic? Including basic pack hierarchy. Then she began attracting the eyes on unmated males.

They had noticed on her last visit. Several pack members had followed her around. Two had touched her, one didn't leave with a working arm.

She had broken both.

Adam knew she handled herself well when she had to. Bran had never voiced complaints, but Charles' omega had called when his daughter had gotten dangerously close to some choice members.

She was still a teenager.

Adam never enjoyed thinking about it, but he was sure Jesse hadn't been much older when she lost her virginity. She might not have been 18 at all yet, he didn't want to remember.

"You're staying with her?" Mercy had come back down the stairs.

"Do you remember when she was little? And she would wait for me to come home to carry her up to bed?" He asked thoughtfully. Mercy sat down next to him, moving the coffee table over.

"She'll always be yours before she's anyone else's." Mercy sighed, "Porsche and Jesse, both."

Wolves were territorial, over-controlling, and overprotective. Being an alpha only made it worse to the thousandth degree.

"I just worry."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the comments!!!! ❤️ It means a lot and really inspires me to keep writing.


	6. Chapter 6

The idea, to a human, of eating anyone’s flesh and blood was foreign and taboo. Consumption of bodily flesh was reserved for those who believed in transubstantiation and the bedroom in Western culture.

I grimaced at the thought of becoming of my father’s pack again.

“Maybe I can just become a lone wolf altogether.” I tried convincing my mother, knowing that she would be the only person to even consider the idea of a woman being a lone wolf. “Break ties with Marrok—“ My mother snorted when she used Bran’s title as her pack name, “And just hang out.”

“Your father would have both of our heads.” Mercy shook her head. It was a case of The Little Mermaid versus The Little Mermaid II. Somewhere in Mercy, deep down, she had always wanted to be in a pack and to be accepted. I didn’t quite fit in perfectly, I was still half coyote and lived outside of pack hierarchy so there were some who would tease me, but I was fine with it to the point I wanted to leave it behind.

We sat for a moment in the kitchen as my mother baked. Brownies, despite being majority chocolate, didn't kill any of us. I hadn't seen her father at all that morning and none of the pack had visited.

"Is he ok?" Mercy wasn't sure which man her daughter was referring to but assumed it was her father.

"He has a lot to think about." She looked up at her. "I don't think he's ready to come to the realization that you've grown up." To be honest, Mercy wasn't ready to admit the fact herself. She felt like she had been a horrible mother in the way her own mother had been. She dropped her daughter off on the Marrok's porch. She hadn't raised her by herself.

She hadn't expected to be a mother and she wasn't terribly religious, but knowing how much Adam had been "secretly" hoping for a child in combination with knowing how many pack members would love to have a child of their own and Sam's distraught reaction to a previous lover's abortion, she had made her decision.

She also had felt sick at the idea of removing the little clump of cells that would later become a whole human being, though she'd never make a political statement of the sort.

"Oh." I thought about it for a little while. "You aren't going to give me the talk, are you?"

Mercy blinked and stared at her in silence for a bit before laughing.

"No, I don't think I can stop you from doing what you want to do. That said, don't make a decision like sex lightly when it comes to wolves."

"Would dad let me stay if I chose a mate in the pack?" I asked nervously. My wolf was on edge today. "Would that be too uncomfortable for him? Maybe I shouldn't come back--"

"Well, let's think about it. Would it be too uncomfortable for you?" Mom raised an eyebrow. "And why are you thinking about it?"

"I was doing some research this morning on things. We have a habit of meeting people in similar situations as us. For most people it's work, school, the gym. I live in a pack house where people exist constantly. It's likely I meet a significant other here, just as likely as it is for a human to meet someone who hangs around in their dorm lounge."

College was another thing I had been concerned with. I would start applying this coming fall. The jury was still out on whether or not I could go away or if I had to stay close to home as well as if I could go anywhere I desired or if I had to stay near a pack.

Living outside of pack structure meant that, in theory I could live on my own for the four years and come home.

"I see," Mom pulled a few trays from the oven. It was pack game night, we needed all the food we could get. "I think you need to consider your age, too. You have a lot of time to go before you need to think about...permanence."

I knew she chose the word carefully.

"It's not just me thinking though, mom." I wished she could understand just what being two meant. I wasn't ever going to be able to think about myself alone. My wolf already craves the idea of a mate, because she felt she found one. It had kept me anxious all morning, trying to think about how to work with this.

She nodded.

"It's still a decision you need to make. You are not the beast." She meant Bran and she was making a point. What Bran and Leah had was a dynamic that no one else really understood. I hesitate to believe anyone ever really would.

"Mom," I sighed, "She wants him. I don't know how to stop her unless I kill him."

She hit her head on the cabinet she was bent over in when she jerked as she began laughing.

"I'm serious."

"I know," her voice became serious as she stood up to look at me, rubbing the back of her head, "But killing him was a little funny. I think all of us have wanted to kill Ben at one point."

I gave her a small smile.

"I want you to do what you want to. I want you to keep in mind that you're playing with fire, though. Ben has pines for you for a little while now. You're not just thinking about the wolf in his case."

I bit my lip.

"I have no place to judge on this topic. I flirted with Samuel Cornick for a long while when I was younger than you."

"You more than flirted. You were bordering illegal." Warren had entered the home. It wasn't his car I had heard in the driveway, though.

"I don't want to hear it!" I covered my ears. My mother laughed.

"You think I want to hear it?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments will usually make me post faster, but today I'm sitting in a tattoo shop waiting my turn so y'all are fortunate :p I got ahead enough that I felt I could post this today.   
> Let me know what you think, though!


	7. Chapter 7

My father, I knew, was not one to avoid conversations. I almost wondered if my mother had spoken with him, but I knew she hadn't. 

 

The home had filled to the brim with different scents. So much of it was related to the pounds of food we had laying out in various rooms, but it was also attributed to the pack members who had come to join the fun. I had been granted membership, if you will, to the Tri-Cities pack again in a flourish. I wondered idly, when my father had been going through the motions, if there was a limit to how many times this magic would work on most people. 

 

Apparently three is not the limit, though. 

 

"Porsche, you have to answer." Joel laughed at me. I blinked up at my father, his eyebrow raised with an utterly bemused expression on his face. 

 

"Oh. Are we at that part?" I frowned. 

 

Everyone in the room laughed. I made a face, reminded of the taste of my father's blood in my mouth now that I was made aware of my surroundings again. 

 

"Yours to you, mine to me. _Pack_."  My mind immediately flooded. Ties were broken, like spiderwebs being ripped down by a child's hand. Quickly, new ones took their place. 

 

I was vaguely aware of arms around me. My father pressed his lips to the top of my head. 

 

Blood. There was blood. This had got to be incest. 

 

"You'll always be mine, daughter."  

 

It was like I had traveled back in time. He had said the same words when he had brought me to the Marrok. Both of my parents were there when I became pack, they had broken my pack ties before hand with the fear that simply switching would overwhelm me in my age. 

 

"I know." I smiled, wrapping my arms around his middle and closing my eyes.

 

"Look who is joining us." Mary-Jo was never going to be my favourite packmember. Was it too late to go back?

 

Ben had stepped into the living room, late for the emotions but early for games. 

 

"I brought soda." He lifted the bags in his hands, clearly stiff and awkward. 

 

Pack looked from him to me. Tensions were evident, and I wasn't great at working pack magic yet. 

 

"In the kitchen is fine, Ben." My mother said softly. Ben nodded but stayed frozen. I was made suddenly aware of the blood still on my lips and licked it. It burned with magic and made me nauseous with concerns of incest. 

 

"She's staying." It was a statement, not a question from Ben. He managed to turn sheet white, though. 

 

"She's pack." Dad agreed. 

 

I know what part of me wanted him to make a move towards me, but the rational sides of both of us won out. He simply nodded and went to place the soda down. 

 

"Oh, so Ben is back to being the pack asshole?" Aureole rolled her eyes. "Great."  

 

I frowned at my mom and she shook her head. It wasn't my place to speak. 

 

The pack remained relatively unphased as they began to make themselves comfortable and prep for game night. My mother stepped up to talk to my father. He shook his head, too many people who didn't need to give their two cents. I quietly slipped into the kitchen. 

 

"Please, don't touch me." He froze when I laid a hand on his shoulder. 

 

I drew back, hurt a little. He had been someone I was close with on all of my trips home. 

 

He turned around. 

 

"Please," his eyes were distressed. "I've never dealt with this and it's very difficult. I'm trying."

 

But his scent made want to curl into him, and again I knew what part of me was saying that but it still remained. 

 

"Don't bite your lip like that." 

 

"I'm just thinking." I defended. "I'm not doing it intentionally to upset you."

 

"I'm not trying to take this out on you, but I need you to leave or I'm going to do something I regret--"

 

"Don't threaten me!" I snapped at him angrily. 

 

"You are seventeen, Porsche!"  He growled, "Stop being a child, I'm not threatening you."  

 

His wolf was closer than it had been three minutes before. Again, his bones made an unnatural sound when he rolled his shoulders. His eyes were lighter than normal, his cheeks flushed red. 

 

I was surprised no one had intervened, wondering in the back of my mind if my parents were trying to allow me to figure this out for myself. 

 

"Porsche," he warned when I stepped closer. 

 

"I want to talk. I've been here for a day and I haven't seen you without you getting like this. I," I needed to find a word for how I felt. "I feel lonely without you.  I have no one to talk to or hang out with. I don't want that to keep going."

 

"You have Warren."

 

"Yeah, but that's different. He was the responsible one. You let me get away with stuff." I stuck my tongue out.

 

"I need you to not do that."  He shut his eyes, drawing a shaken breath. 

 

"I need you to stop and just relax, ok? I want to just sort out where to go from here. It's hard for me, too. I don't know what to do, I don't like this." I gestured between us at the abnormal position he had taken as he leaned away from me with his body pressing into the granite countertop so hard it'd leave a mark on him. 

 

"Porsche, I know you're moving closer. Don't." 

 

“Please, look at me?”  I looked up at him.  He finally opened his eyes, and they weren’t his.

 

I forgot instantaneously that everyone was in our home, meters away.  They could hear us.  Ben’s lips were on mine and my senses were horribly enveloped in him.  His hands desperately grabbing my hips, I curled my fingers in his shirt and pulled him closer.  

 

I could smell his arousal.  This was getting dangerous, and I wasn’t suer who of the proverbial four of us were involved.

 

“Porsche, are you—oh!” Jesse was visiting?  I hadn’t heard her or her husband enter through the doors, even knowing that often they did try and visit for pack events.  

 

Ben pulled back,  it was like he had been burned.  Immediately, his eyes were his, I couldn’t so much as scent the wolf.

 

“I forgot I have work to do before tomorrow morning, have to write a work-around code for--"

 

"I can help," I begin. I had been taking classes online, greatly encouraged by Bran. I liked the challenge it presented. 

 

"It's fine." He said, a little too loudly. "I'll see you all later. Nice seeing you, Jesse."

 

The door slammed. 

 

She gave me a smile. 

 

"Hey there, jailbait. How's my little sister?"  Her arms opened and I stayed where I was. My big sister had just walked in on a conversation-gone-makeout-sess and I didn't know how to react. "You act like I didn't basically watch Mercy and dad conceive you."

 

True. 

 

My father was aggravated, I knew even from the other room and I was sure the whispering of the pack was in regards to me. I hugged Jesse. 

 

"I didn't know you were in town." She had moved to California with her husband while I was young. We didn't spend much time growing up in the same house. She was already out of college as early as my memory goes, and then she was living here just until she found a permanent job. 

 

"Just to see you. Dad told me you were coming home, I decided to fly up for a bit. I have to go home in a few days." She stood back and looked me over. "Damn. You grew up."

 

I laughed. 

 

"You look like Mercy, a lot. Well, from what I can remember when I was younger.  Any tattoos yet?"  I shook my head with an eye roll. 

 

"I'm not allowed to, I'm 17. And Dad would kill me."

 

"I'm sure he would. He clearly has a kink for them, he'd probably start imagining that other guys could share the same turn on and then he'd shut you inside for good." She agreed. "At least dye your hair. Do something to drive him insane, apart from kissing the friendly neighborhood werewolf." 

 


	8. Chapter 8

_Ben POV_

 

She had let me kiss her.  That was sickening. 

 

Not Porsche, never her. 

 

My own behaviour.  I should have been able to control myself. I'm an adult. I was her guardian at multiple times in her life. I should have been the one who kept it from happening. 

 

It was her scent, though. It drove me insane. It was lavender and snow, pine trees, and just all Porsche. Her hair was dark brown, almost black, but still closer to her father's than her mother's. When she had been younger, her hair was pitch. As she aged, it began glimmering with blonde and red strands amongst the pitch in the sunlight until all of it was just slightly brown instead of black. Her skin was the perfect mix between olive and copper, but definitely more towards her mother's copper spectrum. She darkened easily in the light, she would turn almost black if she was outside enough. 

 

She was thin, probably inheriting that from her father's side. Mercy herself had always been fit, but Porsche didn't try. Maybe some of it was wolf, who knew. She was in shape, though. The way her muscles tensed when she grabbed my shirt...

 

Finally, she was gifted with her grandmother's curves. Mercy had hips, but her mother had breasts that could make a chicken farmer jealous. 

 

Fuck, her tits. 

 

They popped out of anything she wore that was even slightly revealing. Her t-shirts even, they'd push through. 

 

I had wanted to taste more of her, immediately. Her lips just touched mine and I was ready to push her dress up--I hadn't realized her induction into the pack would be such an ordeal she would dress up and wear makeup--and fuck her into next week. 

 

It's those thoughts that scare me. 

 

She's a child yet, and I'm comparatively powerful. I could be manipulating her and she would let me. She wouldn't know the difference. 

 

I'm a monster. 

 

Thank the Lord Jesus himself that Jesse walked in when she did.  We used to tease Adam and Mercy about Jesse’s timing, but seriously it is a fucking blessing.

 


	9. Chapter 9

For the first time ever, I was too uncomfortable to just go straight back into the thick of the pack. Instead, I chose to disappear upstairs. Jesse made sure to check in on me with food every now and again.  It was only a few hours before the pack left, no one approaching me once.  

 

I was wrapped in blankets, assessing my life decisions.  

 

Mostly, I was trying to figure out wolves.  I was trying to understand what was happening.  School and life prepares you for puberty, and it’s difficult.  You have emotions and sexual fantasies and it’s rough, really it is.  No one had ever prepared me for this.  I felt like Little Sister was absolutely betraying me. 

 

Charles had told me identifying my wolf by a name would help me deal with my feelings about her.  Lacking basic creativity, I called her Little Sister.  She basically was, she was a part of me.  

 

I heard my dad's footsteps up the stairs as the door closed for the last time. Jesse was staying in her old room for the weekend and she had already gone to bed, tired by the trip. 

 

The steps stopped outside of my door before he knocked. 

 

"Come in," I sighed. I had been making lists, texting Anna and trying to understand how to figure out what was happening. There were tri-folded papers with pros and cons as well as general things to think about. 

 

"Are you ok?" The words were so simple. I knew mom had held him back from running to me the moment everything happened. She would be the one to let me have the time I needed to think.

 

He sat down on my bed next to me after closing the door. 

 

"Yeah." I shrugged. He raised an eyebrow. "...no."  And I couldn't hold it back. I started crying. 

 

My dad was much better at handling emotions than my mother. That was a weakness I think she was aware of. 

 

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do. She wants him. She wants him so badly."  I whimpered like a child. "I miss him, dad. He was my favourite person to hang out with. He'd let me help in projects when I was bored. He always kept me in the loop when things were happening that you and mom were too scared to tell me. He was like a friend."  Dad knew I didn't have many.  I was ok with being different, it didn't mean I loved being lonely. "And now he won't even sit in the same room with me. The one time we do, that happens and I don't know what to make of it. But I'm not even 18, not for a few months.  I shouldn't need to deal with this. That's so...permanent. I'm not ready for it. And I'm supposed to be applying for colleges. That would hold me back so much. I already have to deal with packs and location and I don't know if I'm allowed to go wherever I want or if I have to consider the safety of the packs local to there. I can't afford to throw needing to uproot a mate and bring them along." I was blubbering. 

 

He just let me cry into his shoulder.

 

"And my shoulder is still sore. It's so sore. I know it's healed but they never removed the bullet and it stings sometimes."  

 

He chuckled silently. 

 

"Let it fester. It'll heal."  He soothed. 

 

"All of it? Or just the bullet?"

 

He thought for a moment. 

 

"Porsche, all things will heal with time. Unfortunately, this isn't a decision I can make for you."  He rubbed my back in a soothing motion as I continued to cry. "I'm your father. I want to say that I would love for you to stay single for the rest of your life. I don't want any boy to break your heart. Unfortunately, that's not my call. If it was, it'd have already been made."

 

I sniffled, letting out a small laugh. 

 

“College, college is something we’ll have to think about.  You worry yourself with applying, we’ll try and work that out as quickly as we can.”  He seemed to have to think for a minute.  “Having a mate would hold you back from a lot of that, but being a wolf is also something that holds you back from a lot.  You’ve had plenty of times in your life where you couldn’t do something you wanted to because of what you are.  Mates aren’t that strict, there are ways to work around it, we know your mother did.”  

 

“I’m not saying that it’s a good decision for you in this moment, with Ben or with anyone else, but I’m saying it’s not something you need to worry about too much in the way you’re worrying about it.  You should worry because you deserve the chance to experience life romantically how you want and explore your options.”  He frowned and looked at me.  “And I don’t want to know any exploring you’ve already done.”

 

I shook my head and curled closer to him.

 

“I’ve missed you.”  Was all he said.

 

“I know dad.  I missed you too.”

 

It didn't take long for me to drift off to sleep after he left. 

 

I woke up the next morning to glass shattering downstairs.  

 

“What is that?”  Warren’s voice shouted.  I frowned, running to open my door.  The scent of death hung heavy in the air.  It was mixed with magic though, and sickeningly familiar.  I almost fell down the stairs, I was moving so fast, and made it just in time to see the leathery wings spread and the giant creature take off. 

 

"She's the Jersey Devil," I whispered. 

 

Jesse, who had been standing in the far corner of the kitchen, raised an eyebrow. 

 

"I thought the Jersey Devil was just a witch? She should be long dead."

 

"She's about as much a witch as Baba Yaga. Not all of the mythology surrounding her creation is true."  Fae do not historically reproduce well or quickly. You're far more likely to find half-bloods than true fae. The Jersey Devil was fairly abnormal, she is the youngest full-blooded far that I've ever had the misfortune of meeting. She wasn't the thirteenth child, that's absurd. It was a tale to ward off young women from marrying loyalists. 

 

She was born long before she came to light, even being young. Her father had kept her hidden for probably a century or two.  He brought her to the new world. One day, she did escape up the chimney and this the story was born. 

 

"I'll have to call your father. Any idea what she wants?"  Warren was already dialing. 

 

"Um, not to be dramatic, but probably just me."  I gave a sheepish smile. 

 

Warren stared at me blankly as I heard my father pick up. 

 

"Boss, you want to ask Mercy's daughter why the New Jersey Devil is after her?" 

 

"She is her mother's daughter, I can't say I didn't see it coming."  My dad sounded tired more than anything. "Can I ask why?"

 

“Someone killed her father and he had some of her things, one of which is fairly unnaturally attached to me."  I lifted my hair and showed the thing chain of silver. "It's a Dorothy-sort of situation, dad. It doesn't come off, well, unless it wants to. I'm not sure where it goes when it's not here."

 

It hadn't been there since I'd been shot. 

 

“I’ll be home in an hour.  Someone call Mercy.”  He hung up without another word.

 

“Sometimes I hate not being able to hear what everyone else can.”  Jesse sighed, “I missed half o that conversation.”

 

“Porsche, can you call your mother?”  Warren handed me his phone and I took my own out.  He nodded.  “I need to patch up the window before something tries and pokes its head inside.”

 

I dialed quickly.  My mother hadn’t let age get to her, she was almost 50 and still working as a mechanic.  Sometimes thinking about her age made me nervous, I know it made dad nervous, too.  I have an uncle that we don’t really talk about who has outlived a few generations pretty well, and mom doesn’t look like she has aged beyond her 30s.  We aren’t sure what that means, though, and Coyote hasn’t been excruciatingly helpful.

 

He also hasn’t been around since I’ve been alive, so we aren’t really sure what to make of any of it.

 

“Porsche?”

 

“Hey, dad wants to meet back at the house.  We have a situation to handle.”  I hurried.  “We’re fine.  Jesse and I weren’t alone, Warren was here."  Warren was here. Why was Warren here?  

 

I cocked my head in his direction and he simply raised an eyebrow back. 

 

Guard duty, of course, I should know my father better than to let me sleep unattended. 

 

"He'd have called Ben, but given the circumstances he thought better of it," Warren shrugged when I had hung up. I just nodded. "Are you going to explain what kind of trouble you've been getting up to in Montana?"

 

"It's not just me, Fallon was involved, too." I defended. "I'd rather just explain one." And it would give me time to formulate a strong defense for myself. 

 


	10. Chapter 10

“You’re telling me that Fallon Cornick was involved in your shenanigans?”  My father asked skeptically.  “Samuel Cornick let his daughter run with the likes of you?”

 

Fallon and I got along really well most of the time.  She was like a cousin to me, thought she didn’t typically visit.  It was rare that Sam came to Aspen Creek.  The last time he’d come, during the mission I admittedly had crashed and gotten shot during, he was there on business.  

 

Fallon very rarely traveled with him, as her mother was still fairly skittish around wolves.  The few times she had, though, we managed to get into trouble.  Usually, it was nothing too serious, just getting our noses into things we weren’t supposed to know about.  More recently we had stumbled into a reservation, meaning Fallon was meant to go there.  Most of the Fae reservations were on the coasts or down south, not many were in the central United States.  I would guess we had been on one of the only ones.  

 

I had borrowed Bran’s car for the trip, he had chosen to turn the other cheek.  I did notice Anna keeping a closer eye on me after the fact.  

 

Many Fae had decided to no longer live on reservations anyways, but some of the much older ones remained.  I’m not sure if it was for their own protection, because they didn’t want to deal with humans, or because the government still didn’t trust them.  Probably, it was a combination of all of them.  

 

Fallon had gone to visit someone and brought me with her, nothing too unusual.  It was me wandering unsuspectingly into Fae crime and punishment that got us into trouble later down the road.  

 

The Fae work like werewolves, they don’t take kindly to those who break the rules and they carry out their own justice.  

 

I don’t know what Daddy Jersey Devil did, but no one was happy with him and he was killed pretty cleanly and swiftly.  I don’t think anyone immediately noticed me snooping, I’m a blind spot for a lot of magic.  

 

I hadn’t noticed the necklace on my trip, and I hadn’t meant to pry.  Curiosity killed the wolf, I suppose, but it latched onto me and very rarely let go.  I don’t know where it went when it wasn’t around my neck, but it was never there when I Changed and had been about as intermittent as most software problems since I’d stumbled into it six or seven months ago.

 

“We didn’t mean to find trouble.  It wasn’t her fault, she was just with me when I found it.”  I had hidden under a bed when I stepped on the chain.  “She was the one who made sure I got out.”

 

Fallon was half-Fae, as her father was a werewolf.  That said, she was someone I connected with on a level of mixed-breed-but-not-quite-human.  

 

“And it’s hers?”  Dad questioned.

 

“Yeah.”  I nodded.  “It’s hers.  I had to do some research on her, pulled a few strings.”  Thankfully, my mother had made friendly with Zee in her youth because I used that connection to my advantage and called on his son Tad for some help.

 

“You don’t owe any favours?”  My mother asked cautiously.

 

“I hope not.”  I shook my head.

 

Dad seemed to be assessing the situation, but to say he was taking this well was an overstatement. I didn't know if he was angry with me or the situation quite yet but I could feel it brewing. 

 

"You not only entered a reservation," So he was angry with me, "but you intruded on the execution of a fae." 

 

"Unintentionally doesn't make this any better, but it's true."  I offered hopefully. 

 

"You are not to leave this house without a detail." He didn't even let me finish. "You either."

 

"I'm a fully grown woman," Jesse crossed her arms, "And I'm going home in a number of days. You can't tell me I need a dutiful reporter to follow me around. I lived through that already."  I felt bad, she was right and she hadn't asked for any of this. 

 

"Not right now, Jesse."  Dad was showing his age in his voice when he spoke to her. 

 

***

_3rd Person POV_

 

"She's just as much your daughter, too."  Mercy raised an eyebrow at her mate. Adam snorted. 

 

"Jesse is all mine, and you influenced her. Porsche has you written all over her."  He was texting, despite how much it sometimes drove him insane. He didn't want Porsche to know what he was doing, though, because it wasn't something she would be a fan of. 

 

"You're calling him?"  Mercy wasn't stupid. She knew Adam inside and out, and she knew Ben, too. Adam was calling the wolf he knew would never let anyone touch his youngest daughter, and that was the wolf who coincidentally had pined after her since she was fifteen. 

 

Adam nodded. 

 

"She's not going to like that." Mercy warned. "If you want to pin the blame on me, you can remember she's more likely to run if you put her under that stress. She's still only seventeen."

 

"I don't have a choice. Who am I going to put on this?  Honey?  Porsche can't stand her, their personalities clash. Mary Jo? I'd have to trust Porsche not to rip her apart. Warren could do it, but I need his help and he and Jesse get along."  He ran a hand through his hair. "He'll guard her with his life."

 

"She's a wolf, but she's half coyote, too." Mercy rested her hand on his arm. "She'll find her way out of trouble."

 

"And into more."  Adam chuckled. "I'd really hoped to retire from this chasing bad-guy stuff."

 

"All you got was a short-lived break."

 


	11. Chapter 11

I was through with trying to play nicely, the man my father had set to watch me wasn't having any of it when he walked through the front door. I heard them all whispering downstairs, but effectively blocked it out. I didn't care, I was trying to get in touch with Fallon to see if she had any news on the matter. 

 

We had hoped, seemingly wrongfully, that those after the devil's father would also be after her. Fallon still had reason to believe that theory, but was unable to share much more information. 

 

An hour passed before I braved going downstairs. Yanking out my headphones, I crept down the steps and into the kitchen. A red wolf was laying on the couch across the way. 

 

"Ben?" He lifted his head and seemed to grin at me. His wolf was in a much better mood than the man, it seemed. I sat down on the floor beside him and he let out a low whine, laying his huge head on my shoulder.  I smiled a little.    
  
“I love how you’ve been here for only a number of days and already the whole world is collapsing.”  Jesse teased.  I must have been stressed, I didn’t see her there.  As if knowing my question before I asked, she answered.  “Warren is sorting things out with Dad.  They have to decide what’s going to happen, can’t afford a war with the Fae.”

 

We can never afford a war with the Fae, in dad’s defense.  That would be far too dangerous.

 

“Collecting some understanding, trying to discover what you’re missing.”  My father was on his way up the stairs and had apparently heard us.  Given that wouldn’t have been a surprise anyhow.  

 

“Missing?”  I frowned, shifting where I sat.  Ben huffed, making a show of lifting his head and placing it back down even though he knew better than to press any real weight on it, it was still sore.

 

“She’s only half-Fae.”  My mother explained.  “You were misinformed.”

 

Thanks, Tad.  Useful.

 

“Ok, I don’t see how that changes much, she’s still over 200 years old.”  I pointed out. 

 

“And the necklace isn’t hers, it was a gift.”  Warren continued.

 

I was missing every single nail here.

 

“From Faerie-Land.”  My mother sighed.

 

“Underhill?”  My eyes widened.  Ben growled.

 

“I’m not suggesting we send my daughter to Underhill.”  Dad’s eyes turned to him.  “I didn’t like it when Jesse went to Underhill, why would I ever suggest that?  I’m not stupid.”

 

“Well, what if we just return it to its original owner?”  If Underhill held the necklace, then I had no idea who had made it.  

 

“There is likely a reason that the original owner doesn’t have it.”  My mother, with the logic.  “Whether they lost it, are unfit, or are dead.”

 

“Why does she need it?”  I asked.  “Do we know that?”

 

“From what those who know are willing to tell me, she can’t reliably use glamour.”  Not unusual, if she was only half-fae, she was bound to be missing something.  “The necklace helps her.”

 

“Underhill kicked the Fae out centuries ago, how did she get it?”  I turned to my dad.  

 

“It works in weird ways.  Maybe it knew she needed help.”  

 

I bit my lip and nodded.

 

“Ok.”

 

Then, in theory, if the necklace held powers we weren’t aware of, it had a reason to follow me.  It would explain why it was never there when I changed, if it helped the Jersey Devil keep up appearances.  But, then, she would have had to have lost it around the early 1900s.  That, after all, is when the sightings truly started.

 

“She’s been in hiding?”  

 

Mom nodded. 

 

“For about a century and a half, maybe more.”  

 

Her own father had taken away the thing she needed most to live a normal life.

 

“If we can’t reliably discern when it will and won’t leave you alone, we need to determine the best plan of action.”  My mother continued.  “I called Zee.”

 

Despite the fact I had been encouraged to call him my uncle, Zee scared me.  He found it somewhat amusing, I knew that, but it didn’t make me anymore relaxed.  Ben must have sensed my tension, because he was growling again.

 

“It’s fine.”  I reassured him.  I would be fine, I knew that.  

 

Zee was there an hour later, flooding the house with magic however unintentionally.  I sneezed as he entered.

 

“There’s the troublemaker.”  He frowned at me.  “What are you doing, poking your nose around in the places you don’t belong?  You’re lucky you didn’t wind up dead, girl.”

 

“It’s lovely to see you, too.” I grumbled.  I wasn’t in the mood to be babied, I already had been doomed to suffer body guard consequences.  “I didn’t do it on purpose, though, just for your information.”

 

“Of course not,” His voice rumbled.  I don’t think his appearance had ever changed as long as I’d known him.  “You’re not stupid, you’re dangerous.”

 

I didn’t disagree with him.

 

“Let’s see the damage.”  He beckoned me to stand up.  Ben growled lowly, I froze mid-rise and glanced at my father.  “I’m not going to hurt her, wolf, I’m trying to help her.”  He waved Ben off.  Dad seemed smug in his choice of watch dog.  

 

“It’s silver,” He frowned, “That it doesn’t bother you might be a miracle in and of itself.  It leaves when you Change?”  I agreed with him.  “Well, we could just rid ourselves of it forever.  I would imagine if you cut the chain, it will fall off.”

 

“You want to do the honors, Mighty Swordsman?”  I rolled my eyes.  His hand made contact with my head not a second later.  “Ben, stop, I asked for that one.”  I sighed.

 

“I can’t do it.  You’re going to need to ask your friend.”  Zee stood in front of me again and shrugged.  “It’s not my area of expertise.”

 

I stared at him incredulously.  “You came to give your expert opinion on something you aren’t an expert in.”

 

He smiled, but smile’s didn’t suit him anymore than they suited Charles.  

 

“The one you call Ariana is known for her work with silver, and for pieces that restrict certain magic.  I would imagine she, of all Fae, would know what to do with something that can’t withstand Changes but can provide glamour.” 

 

“I’ll call Sam.”  Mom sighed.

 

“She got into this with the silversmith’s daughter?”  Zee asked my father, he just nodded.  “Interesting.”

 

Was that it? Zee left from there, he didn’t say goodbye.  He was clearly not in a mood to deal with people today.  I groaned.

 

What’s worse was, looking at my parents, I knew I was in deeper trouble as soon as we got Ariana and Sam here.  Destroying Fae artifacts was not exactly smiled upon and could be a huge point of contention if done wrong.  Hopefully, if Zee wasn’t misleading, Ariana had created it anyways.  If she was willing to remove it, I could be fine.

 

Maybe.

 


	12. Chapter 12

I don’t know why we didn’t think of this sooner. Ariana assessed the situation and, after gently scolding Fallon for not telling her (very much the opposite my father’s own stern glances), said she would willingly break the piece. 

“It was only meant to help hold onto appearances.” She explained. “I didn’t know who’s hands it had fallen into, but it was intended for a very specific purpose when it had been created.”

I almost wondered, judging by her glances to Sam, if it had been purposed for him. The pendant was a dog, after all. 

With that, though, she broke the chain. I didn’t hear it snap, it more just dissolved when she touched it, but it burned like silver should until whatever she had done snaked through the whole chain and the pendant fell to the floor with a chime like a small bell. She picked it up and pocketed it.

“It won’t bother you any longer.” Fae can’t lie, so that was good enough for me. If it bothered someone else, I could care less. 

For the pendant at least.

I don’t know why I thought that was the end of it. They left later that day, Samuel had business to attend to and Ariana and Fallon went with him. It didn’t give us much time for reunion.

Dad still hadn’t released the guards, though. He had me and Jesse on as strict of a lockdown as we could compromise at. Jesse got us cleared for a mall trip, not at all my style, but much-needed emotionally because I needed to get out of the house. 

All the better, I got to take my car.

Well, Jesse got to take it. I didn’t have an actual license yet. 

But damn, it was a sweet car.

“The Marrok spoils you.” Warren chuckled when it started. 

"I think he has more money than he knows what to do with." I sighed, but I couldn't complain. Dad had never been a fan of Bran’s gifts. A car was something I couldn’t complain about, my parents had instituted a firm “you want it, you pay for it” rule about the car situation when I brought it up. 

“I can’t believe you’ve not gotten a license.” Jesse rolled her eyes, pulling out of the driveway. “You’re beyond old enough, especially by Montana standards.”

“I had a permit…” I smiled a little. “I drove Bran once and he was obviously trying not to lose his shit.”

"Has dad heard you talking like that?" She glanced in the rearview mirror. A Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabriolet was not meant for the rear seats shoved in it. The one thing this car, for all the money the Marrok out into it, bothered me with was the fact it only had two doors. 

I would have been happy with an inexpensive four-door sedan, so long as it meant I wouldn't be stuffed in the back of it when my babysitters got the front.

"He hasn't yet, thankfully. He'd eat me." I sighed, leaning my head against the small glass corner in the back of the car.

"Turn left here." Warren directed and I frowned. I hadn't been here for a little, but I knew we were not going the right way to the mall. He smiled and turned back to look at me. "You know your father better than that."

I rolled my eyes and slunked down in my seat. 

"There's no room for that." I snapped and the former cowboy just laughed at me. Jesse grinned.

"We get to use the convertible after-all!" She told me before engaging the function in question. I groaned while we pulled up at the house, arms crossed.

Not moments after the car stopped, there was a thud.

"Don't dent it you fucking--" I screeched, but he'd knocked the wind out of me before I could finish. When I squinted, I could make out a tongue lolling out at me. "Prick." I finished. If anything, he seemed more amused with himself when I finished. The top of the car was slowly re-adjusting itself over the wolf.

"I'd hope there'd be less arguing if he couldn't speak." Jesse sighed sarcastically, but we were on the road again.

"Really, what are the odds of her coming back again?" I asked Warren and he shrugged. 

“I don’t think your dad is too concerned with her, I think he’s worried you’ll get into more trouble.” He admitted. The drive to the mall was long, but far shorter than the drive to anywhere from Aspen Creek. “You’ve only been back a few days and you've brought more trouble upon us than your mom did in the span of two years.”

I scoffed, but Ben seemed to nod in agreement along with Jesse.

“You’ll need new things, I think, since you’ve moved back permanently. It’s cold up here, but we’re not like Montana in the winter.” Jesse spoke as if she still lived with the rest of us and I called her out on it. “Hey! You can take the girl out of Washington, but she still lived her almost all her life!” 

Even with most wolves being out (when I was born, maybe 25% had come forward to the public) it was shocking to me when people let dogs the size of a young bear into a shopping center. In fact, the mall wasn’t even dog friendly.

“They know us,” Warren explained softly to me. Jesse definitely couldn't hear. “Your father has made a name for himself around here, and people still know you and Jesse. They know Ben’s wolf, though they’ve still never met him.”

I nodded, so that explained it. We were just getting special permission—who would stop a werewolf anyways?

“Thigh high socks are back in!” Jesse announced, holding up a pair. I raised an eyebrow at her. “God, you took after Mercy. I can’t get you in anything fun.”

“I want to remind you that the pictures I’ve seen of you at my age show bright hair, wild haircuts, and weird-ass clothes.” I accused. “I just keep to basics.”

“You aren’t living in the wilderness anymore, despite some areas of desolation. This region is known as the Tri-Cities.” Jesse tossed me a sweater that was more fashionable than warm. “You can dress for fashion over function here.”

I mimicked her under her breath, watching Ben’s ears flick towards me and hearing Warren chuckle. 

“Be thankful you aren’t shopping with Kyle.” The latter reminded me of my dear “uncle” who loved to play into some stereotypes occasionally. I actually suspected he felt that he needed to amp his flamboyancy up specifically to make it comical and more reasonable when he suggested my parents dress me in things like “my daddy’s bite is definitely worse than his bark.” That bib made it on camera once, when my babysitters weren’t doing such a great job keeping the local alpha’s daughter out of the background of the news cast after some sort of huge something.

I was three, I don’t remember it.

“Now,” The half-sister who was a little over twice my age was crouched by Ben’s muzzle. Dad would yank her back, knowing him, but I didn’t bother. “What would you say to my sister in your t-shirt and thigh-high socks.”

“I’d say ‘jailbait,’” Warren’s voice became suddenly stiff and Jesse straightened up to look at him. There was something silent passed between them and I couldn’t begin to guess what it was.

“I’m just saying, you should get something cute. I’m just keeping with your style. Loose-fit and comfortable.” Jesse tossed the socks and a baggy sweater over my shoulder and I glanced at Warren, but he made no further effort to tell me what the exchange had been about.

We continued our perusal through shops, after Jesse pulled out my father’s card from my own wallet for me in the first store. Jesse was chattering away as I’d always known her to do, with Warren close by her side. Every now and then he’d glance back to make sure we were still there, even though I know he knew we were.

Ben had been right beside me, but fell behind two or three steps when he stopped suddenly.

“What’s wrong?” But then I could smell it, too. “She can’t be in here, right?” I looked up at Warren. “She can’t hide.”

“We don’t know what she can do.” He reminded. We were in the middle of a giant, Simon mall. There was no way the Jersey Devil could make her way inside without being seen. We knew she struggled with glamour.

“Let’s not find out.”


	13. Chapter 13

_Mercy POV_

“Bring them home, now.” The air in the kitchen dropped into sudden tension. A few members of the pack had come to their alpha’s home, nothing unusual. What was unusual was the phone call they had all just listened into from a slightly panicked Porsche Hauptman. 

Their alpha’s response had been to whoever was with her, that they’d known and any wolf nearby her phone would have heard that voice.

“I thought we were retired from this craziness when Mercy grew out of it.” Honey lightened the mood a little and Adam shook his head. The silence that overtook the five people in the kitchen again only questioned their next steps. The necklace was home with the one they presumed was its creator. It had been otherwise rendered useless. Porsche didn’t have it anymore.

“Who is with them?” I asked, but I already knew the answer.

There was something strange about having a child in the pack that Bran had never mentioned to Adam or I. I knew Adam’s wolf felt no connection to her in terms of lineage, but we weren’t ever completely deaf to her. Bran had magic of his own, maybe that meant he had never noticed a strange connection with either of his sons—because it wasn’t any stranger than his connection with the other wolves. He had a way of getting into people’s heads.

I couldn’t read her mind, nor could I push my way into hers. If Adam had found a way, he hadn’t told me. Blood, though, is the oldest magic and I think it was to blame for the fact I knew exactly who was with her. Ben was a wolf, but that I knew through the pack bond. 

Maybe it was just mother’s intuition, but I also knew she was fine and would be fine.

“What are you thinking?” I looked at Adam, resting a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m thinking I let them kill her.” He glanced back at me. “There’s three-on-one there, four if Jesse can get anything in edgewise.”

“Are we going?” Darryl would never be my biggest fan, even years after everything that had happened. We were never on bad terms and he had a huge soft-spot for both Jesse and Porche (though I suspect his wolf held Porsche’s in less than favorable eyes). 

Adam’s only response was to grab his keys. His knuckles were white and, while I knew he wouldn’t hurt her, I was a little concerned for the reprimanding his youngest daughter would receive.

“You’re staying. I’m going.” He all but growled, but he was already out of the room. We heard the slam of the door only seconds later and I rolled my eyes before hurrying after him.

The door was sideway on its hinges. I know absolutely no one stupid enough to rob an alpha’s house, but I do know that stupid exists and I liked having a front door (even if it never protected us from the scavengers that ate our food).

“Adam, slow down.” I shouted after him and he spun around.

“Can you not follow me once? Please, I’m trying to not have three people in trouble.” He had stopped, though, and that was enough for me to get to the passenger’s side before he unlocked the doors. 

I snorted. “You said it yourself, they can handle themselves.” Worry was deep-seated in my stomach, but they were also my daughters and I was allowed to worry. It didn’t affect how I felt about them being able to take care of themselves, I knew both of them had handled themselves well before. “And I can certainly fend for myself.”

Save for my youngest being shot more recently.

He didn’t argue with me, just unlocked the car so we could both get inside of it. I smiled to myself at the small victory and then refocused on worrying. We knew this fae was after a necklace, something that we didn’t have anymore. 

It was possible that, at this point, she was just angry with Porsche for ever having it in the first place. She was either not that powerful or very skittish, evident because Warren had been able to frighten her out of our home. My bets were on her not being powerful if she relied on another Fae’s creation to keep herself shielded by glamour.

“She could be invisible.” I wondered aloud. Adam snorted. “No, she could be. It would make sense why she’s disappeared mostly from memory. She can’t exist in the human world without hiding. She has two options, be completely non-existent—and to my knowledge that is fairly easy for a fae with her lineage—or go into hiding entirely until the reservations came along.”

“You want me to call Warren and tell him he’s looking for an invisible target?” There was a hint of humor in his voice, but there was nothing soft or lighthearted about his posture.

“I mean, we could warn them,” I shrugged, “Or we could leave them to use their noses.”

He pressed a button on the steering wheel and the car came to life, something that would always terrify me.

“Siri, call Warren.”

Which number for Warren Smith would you like to use?

I have heard Adam actually curse on maybe two occasions, but always when someone was in trouble or about to be. It didn’t make the moment any less funny, I had to physically hold myself to keep from laughing.

“Mobile.” He gritted out.

“Still think she’s the only woman who will ever listen to you?” I asked with a small smirk.

Calling Warren Smith mobile.

The car began to ring.

“Well I know you won’t and, apparently, neither will our daughters.” Warren picked up before I could retaliate. “Mercy brought up a good point. We think she’s likely invisible entirely. That shouldn’t be too difficult for someone her age with her parentage to do, even if she can’t effectively use any other glamour.” 

“Well we’re almost to the car.” I heard Porsche yelp in the background and Adam ran a red light. My eyes widened as I braced myself on the dash while someone laid on their horn. Adam’s teeth were gritted and he was easily the angriest I’d seen him in years. 

“What was that?” I asked, trying to remain calm. It would do no good if two of us in the car were upset or on edge. 

“Where are you?” Warren asked quickly and I recognized the sound of the phone being pushed to someone else. 

“We’re not far now.” Adam was absolutely flooring it. I made a mental note to ask the local authorities for police lights sometime. “What’s happening, Jesse?” I wouldn’t have even pieced together who Warren put on the phone.

“Ben must have felt something or noticed something. He pushed me and Porsche down, I wasn’t too surprised, but she got the worst of the force.” She explained to us quickly. 

“What’s happening now?” My husband’s voice was eerily calm despite the look in his eyes and how while his knuckles were.

“Porsche Changed, she’s prettier than I remember,” Leave it to Jesse, “Warren is the only human right now, but he’s fighting the air with Ben. Honestly, guys, I’m in my 30s but it looks like I’m with a drunk college kid and his wild dogs.” Warren didn’t look quite that young, but I understood the sentiment. Anyone would look nuts fighting something invisible. “The only reassuring thing is that even I can smell this thing. She smells like a cave where something is rotting away. No one has told this million year-old creature about perfume apparently.”

“Can you get to the—” 

“The car won’t do any good.” I cut him off. “It’s aluminum. It’s not enough.” 

"Oh. I think Porsche did something. She has a hold of a wing." Jesse updated us with the play by play. 

"It's a shame you didn't go into radio broadcast." I continued to try and lighten the mood in the car for fear we'd wind up dead otherwise. "How do you know?"

"She looks just like she does in that picture." She was thinking out loud, but at least it gave us a handle on the situation. "Can you see the headlines now?"

"'Devil, I have a feeling you're not in Jersey anymore.'" I agreed, "The media will get a blast out of this one." So much room for creativity when the only thing in the state of New Jersey comes to visit somewhere across the country. 

"Where in the parking lot?" Adam asked. The phone fell to the ground in that moment and my heart stopped for a moment. 

"I think heading towards the spot people are running from is a good--" Adam wasn't wrong to throw the car in park and run out. We'd be much faster cutting through the crowd on foot. He'd caught me off-guard, however, and left me sprinting after him.

I heard Jesse yell her sister’s name and my heart stopped. Not a moment too soon, we reached the piece of parking lot the rumble was going down on. We were just in time to see the cause of Jesse’s shriek, Porsche had lost the grip we’d been told she had and gone skidding five feet from the being in front of us. Halfway through the air she’d rolled and delicately changed back to human. 

She hissed, holding her shoulder. Ben was distracted for a heartbeat too long and lost his hold on the Fae’s hind legs. He was shaken with a huff. I looked at Adam, one reason leaving an interested wolf in charge of his pursuits lead to problems.

“Does someone have salt?” Porsche gritted out and I would have laughed at the thought if the “Jersey Devil” wasn’t laughing at her already—or it seemed like a laugh. She wasn’t humanoid enough to make any distinctive, human sounds.

“I didn’t really think I’d need it.” Jesse was completely defenseless herself, save for Warren in front of her. Porsche didn’t stay human long enough to answer. A moment later, she’d used Ben shaking himself off to her advantage (as a stepping stool) and launched herself onto the shoulders of her attacker while she was distracted by Adam.

There was a split second of pride at her intelligent strategy, stopped short only because Jesse and I had to work out a rational plan. 

“She fights like dad.” Jesse spoke quietly to me as we hurried to the car, but only because I had a small realization.

“She’s a wolf.” I agreed. 

“Yeah, but all that stuff he said about his wolf not having a connection to her. They’re nearly identical—where did that come from?” She was playing dumb when I pulled the gun out of the glove compartment. I raised an eyebrow. “I learn from the best.” She winked, taking it from me. “I didn’t want to be completely useless. I packed it earlier.”

Something screeched, but it wasn’t one of our own.

“Go help them. I’m fine.” She nodded to the scene. “I’ll stay back unless you need me.” 

It was odd, to say the least. I hadn’t hunted with my daughter in a long time and Jesse was right, she had some striking resemblance to her father.

She was just much, much smaller.

It felt like forever, but with all of us it could only have been a few minutes before Porsche was our opponent’s captor. Her teeth were bared, pressed right up against the strange, horse-like throat. 

“Now you choose to handle this.” Adam’s voice startled me, but the approaching Fae had come from nowhere.  
 “She is harmless.” I recognized Carrion woman. I would never be a fan of her, even with the help she had given me once upon a time. “We will take her from here.”

“She came here searching out one of mine.” My mate reminded. Porsche hadn’t moved and I’d never seen a teenage girl look scarier, crazy hormones included.   
 “We will take care of it.” I didn’t like it when the Fae took care of things. Usually, similar to werewolves, it meant someone would wind up dead. Sometimes, though, it just meant they’d be hidden away for a little before being allowed to mingle with humans again.

“Porsche,” Adam’s voice had taken a casual tone, but he wasn’t happy with the turn of events. Sometimes I wasn’t sure if that came from the protective nature that drove him to absolutely crush any threat to his people or if it was bloodlust. 

Porsche wasn’t listening. Truth be told, his fear of hurting her because she often didn’t listen was the reason she’d lived in Montana for an extent of time.

“Porsche.” His voice got lower and she snarled, still not looking at him. I wouldn’t have been successful, but I was a moment away from throwing all 20lbs of my coyote self at her. She wasn’t too much bigger than me, but she was more werewolf than anything Coyote I’d given her. She wouldn’t be budged so easy.

Thankfully, Ben shoved into her with his shoulder and a nip at her side. The Fae underneath her laid, unmoving. I wasn’t sure what had been done, but I knew it wasn’t of her own will.

I knew the look that flashed across Adam’s face, he was angry. It was politics and one of his own had willingly ignored his authority in front of someone else in power. Jesse offered her sister a hair tie, she was pulling her hair out of her face not ten second after Ben had broken her fixation. 

What was walking wasn’t entirely human, though. Porsche’s eyes were heterochromatic as a wolf, and right now one was still bright blue. Maybe her changes weren’t as easy as we had assumed.


	14. Chapter 14

Mercy’s POV

“We’ll need a medic.” Warren took one look at Porsche’s shoulder and frowned.

“I’m fine.” She snapped back.

“That’s internal bleeding, you’ll heal but you should get it checked out.” Everyone was on edge and it had nothing to do with the brawl a few minutes before. Adam was already angry, it was causing a small rift trying to put the pieces back together. 

“I’ll be fine in a minute.” She disagreed, resting her hands on her hips. I watched her carefully try and not reach to the pain from moving her shoulder. 

“You’re more wolf than your mother.” Warren warned. It was then I realized Porsche was actually refusing to back down. She was absolutely challenging the aged wolf in front of her. She had lived with Bran, there was not a bone in his body that would ever let her get away with that.

“You want me to bow down and thank you for telling me to see a doctor when I don’t need one?” She was speaking fine, nothing was too guttural or slurred now. She was holding more control than her wolf was, but I’d known wolves long enough to know she was barely holding on. “I’m fine.”

“Let’s go. Cool off so I can have you both in the car.” Jesse called. She was already there, at the car. I had walked with her while Adam got out car, using it as an excuse to cool off himself.

“I’ll drive them. You take the car with your dad.” I told her. I didn’t need a fight to break out. Jesse threw her sister an apologetic glance. They had never been close in the normal way. By the time Porsche was born, Jesse was finishing up college. She was home for a few years very early on in Porsche’s life, but moved out around the time her sister was four or five. She visited often, I think to keep Porsche company more than anything.

Jesse had grown up an only child and seemed to enjoy it. I think her concern was more geared towards the idea that someone else had to grow up with Adam as a father.

He wasn’t a bad father.

He was just very overprotective and set in his ways, difficult to bend.

She was someone who Porsche could relate to, and I think it helped sometimes.

“Are you going to play nice?” I asked Porsche sarcastically, taking the keys from Jesse as she headed away. “I assume this is what Bran meant when he said you get fussy.”

“I don’t know why Warren is so angry about this.” She pushed past the man in question on her way towards me. I think by that point the idea of Warren being angry with her was her motivation for being upset. Some of it was still probably her having missed the opportunity to kill what tried to kill her.

She was trembling. Immediate changes were often a problem in that they were harder to stop than to start. “Don’t touch me.” Warren had reached out to lay a hand on her shoulder, this time to try and help. She was taking deep breaths, but they were strained with the effort of not changing.

Ben’s wolf was the one to ignore her warning. He nudged her with his nose, his expression apologetic. 

Porsche

I opened my eyes to find I was dangerously seated in the middle of the parking lot with my fingers knotted in Ben’s fur. My mother and Warren were both giving us an interesting stare. He was laying on the asphalt like a sphinx and wrapped around me. 

“Are you ready to go?” Mom asked me. Ben’s eyes looked like husky eyes. I used to laugh about them because in those moments where he would give you a questioning look, he looked like a really dumb dog who wasn’t sure what trick you wanted him to perform.

When he was angry, though, any hint of that was gone.

He was giving me the dumb-dog look, waiting to hear that I was ready to leave. I watched my mom hurriedly shoot a text to someone as I was standing up. My head was entirely clear now, I’d lost a minute or maybe more between standing up trying not to change and opening my eyes on the ground. 

“Wolf goes in the back.” Mom called and I sighed, waiting for the top to come down so that he could get in. I climbed in behind him and he promptly rested his giant head on my lap. Something inside me hummed in content, but my mom glanced in the rearview mirror and I quickly frowned.

“That’s it, right?” Warren asked, breaking the silence and trying to ease into conversation. I could tell he still wasn’t happy with me and my stomach dropped a little. Warren had never once been upset with me, especially not to that degree and it embarrassed me. 

I shrugged. 

“I hope so.” I wasn’t ever sure, but if the Fae said they’d handle it I was sure that they would. “I’m tired.”

“You’re going to have to wake up if you want to come on the hunt with us later.” Warren reminded, turning around in his seat. “I imagine you won’t be Changing back until afterwards?” Ben seemed to shrug. 

“I don’t trust Ben not to go on a rampage if he’s wolf for longer than a few hours.” My mom laughed and I had to smile a little. Maybe that was it, all the tension was just because of the cycles. I was tired, I was anxious to answer the moon, and I was upset with the situation at hand.

I wasn’t moon called in the slightest. I didn’t have to change with the full moon, but I liked to. I still got antsy when she came around. Bran had stolen his nickname for my colouring from horses, “flea bitten grey” turned into “moon bitten grey” and I was ok with that. I told him once that we should just say that I’m moon bitten because I get itchy to change when everyone else has to.

I didn’t like hunting with the new pack. I didn’t understand how they worked, even knowing their pecking order. I also, funnily enough, was not used to being on the bottom. Bran had taken a page out of my father’s book and let me hold down my own. I hadn’t been high in rank in Montana—not with the sheer amount of dominants they had—but I wasn’t dead last. 

I hadn’t been given a chance to fix that yet here.

Ben’s wolf had opted to keep me close to his side when the others began nipping at me to try and show me my place without yet getting too aggressive. I suspected Ben wasn’t too thrilled at the idea, but the moon’s call tended to make it difficult for him to choose otherwise. I kept my head a little better than most, stark contrast to earlier in the day.

“He’s just protecting her.” I heard my mother’s hushed voice. They weren’t being very slick, unless they genuinely thought I was asleep.

“Mercy, you know what this is, don’t play dumb.” My father’s quieted voice murmured back. “He’s courting her.”

“You and Ben are both too young to use the word ‘courting’ in a sentence.”

“He’s interested.” My father corrected. “He’s far too interested in a seventeen year-old girl.”

“His wolf is interested, and that’s something you should be familiar with.” My mother’s accusatory tone made me smile a little to myself.

“And he’s too young a wolf to think that being seventeen is ok in standard society.” Dad reminded. “She’s too young for the weight of something like this.”

“She almost got killed today.”

“Don’t remind me.” His voice became a growl.

“He stopped her.” Her voice was gentle now, but that was only because she knew when she was right. “He stopped her from killing someone and he stopped her from changing afterwards. He held her back when she lost control by just being there.”

“I know what Bran said, you don’t need to remind me.” I was confused suddenly. What had Bran said about me? “And you had the same opinion I did. She’s seventeen. We would be irresponsible parents to let her find someone this young. That is something incredibly permanent, and with Ben is something entirely different.”

“I’m not saying she should, Adam, who do you think I am?” Dad was lucky mom was keeping her cool on this one, I could tell by the tone of her voice. “At least let her take rank.”

“She’s my daughter.”

“It wouldn’t be playing favourites.” Mom disagreed. “Honey holds a rank.”

“She lives outside heirarchy.” 

“Only mostly. It’s evident from tonight that she can hold something. She’s clearly accepted as being part of the pack, it’s just going to be an issue of her letting herself be part of it. Bran also told us that she was more easily managed when she had established a place.” I was growing uncomfortable with being spoken about only a few rooms down and I was trying to sort out a way of letting them know I was definitely awake. “She isn’t just accepted into the pack, the magic doesn’t work the same way for her, obviously. She needs to put herself somewhere and know herself and her position.”

“She’s awake.” My heart must have been racing too hard for my father to ignore any longer. The stress was getting to me.

“Now you have no excuse not to let her take a rank.”

“You want me to let her fight a full-grown adult werewolf?” My dad asked incredulously. 

“They’ll both be human.” Mom seemed to shrug.

“She’ll be hurt.” He growled. “No.”

“I got hurt on Bran’s watch.” I said quietly and listened to my father sit up. They were three rooms away. 

“And Bran can stop someone from hurting you without looking too poor. He’s only your grandfather, no one would care too much. If I step in as your father because you haven’t backed out, I will be criticized.”

“Dad.” I pleaded.

I heard the bed move again, but there was no more conversation. I sighed, that wouldn’t hold for very long.


	15. Chapter 15

“She’s seventeen, you can’t keep her from dating someone. Jesse was allowed to date at her age.” My mother was definitely bringing this up in daylight on purpose.

“I’ve heard about her version of dating.” My dad didn’t skip a beat. “The Marrok gave us the rundown.”

“She’s seventeen, she’s allowed some freedom. If she thinks she’s old enough to make decisions like that, it’s her choice.” Mom sticking up for her daughter with general logic. It was true and I’m sure I sound spoiled for it (I am, obviously, a little spoiled) but I should be able to make my own choices.

“I want to point out to both of you.” He made eye contact with me for a brief moment and I glanced away. “That Posche’s decisions have nearly gotten her killed twice in this past month alone.”

“I don’t think the immediate act you’re talking about is going to kill me.” I pulled the cup of coffee towards me that my mom passed. “There are ways I’m sure it could. I heard about this one couple who fell off a roof mid-round. I feel like that’s an exciting way to go.”

My sarcasm fell on unappreciative ears, with the exception of my mother who laughed. I shot her a grin before promptly refocusing on the coffee in my hands. 

“Mom’s right, Jesse dated.” And she was already on the way back home, too far gone to help me out of this one. “She had a serious boyfriend! She married him!”

“I don’t think you’re like Jesse at all.” 

No, Jesse was allowed to live her life at home. I didn’t completely envy her, it was a very broken home to my understanding. I wasn’t ever allowed access to a vast amount of knowledge about my father’s prior marriage. I knew the basics of how he and my mom wound up together and got Jesse, but that was the end of that. 

“In what way? She’s still my sister, I’m still your daughter.” I mumbled. It was difficult to be on my best behaviors with him pushing buttons. 

“That’s half the problem.” He rubbed his face. “The other half is your mother, isn’t it?”

Mom snorted.

“Ok, just because you took your sweet, cowardly time chasing after mom—“ My dad cut me off with an actual, genuine laugh.

“That’s not what I mean, either.” He was smiling now. “Porsche, there’s a lot you haven’t had to deal with yet. Only one of those things is figuring out what you want to do with your future and this is something a little more decidedly permanent than a high school boyfriend that got very serious.”

“I mean my future is pretty set.” I shrugged. “I’ll have to stay local for school after making all-new friends my senior year. I’ll be absolutely miserable learning about something completely useless. Then I’ll possibly find out that I have to continue to live for an infinite number of years.” God, that’d be rough.

“I think this is more of a Bran-Leah situation that your father is scared of happening.” Mom pointed out.

“What makes you think you won’t go away for college?” Dad ignored her. “Your grades are fine, last we saw. You could go anywhere you want.”

My mother and I raised eyebrows at him.

“We’d have to be reasonable with what packs you can be near. There are a few nice ones on the east coast. Chicago’s packs have been picking up, good alphas now—“

“That’s what I mean.” I sighed and pushed away from the table. “I don’t have much of a say on this future thing anyways. I might as well start making choices about what I can.”

I opted to go to my room and do some general research. Until Bran had pointed out something that should have been obvious—my not being moon called didn’t mean I shouldn’t be near a pack for support during college—had quickly changed my first choice school. I’d wanted to go to MIT for mathematics and engineering or comp-sci, maybe somewhere in NYC instead. 

Both general regions had packs that weren’t necessarily famous for the right things. New York had one notably promising alpha amongst the three that split up the immediate area. He’d been someone Bran had sent members to before, often for them to continue with their jobs in better paying circumstances. 

The problem Bran had, and my father would likely have his doubts to, was that their most recent female member had left a decade ago. The alpha there wasn’t old by some standards, but older than dad and even he could be mildly conservative. 

Basically, she felt like she had no real power in the pack because she was unmated. I think that problem would naturally dissipate, though, if I did have a mate. I’d just potentially be uprooting them and bringing them wherever I wind up.

“Anna?” I asked the phone when the line stopped ringing. 

“Hey! How are you?” She had been a glorified babysitter for me since my parents brought me to Aspen Creek. Her job had evidently not ended since I’d moved away. “Bran said there was some stuff going on, that you might reach out. Is is about school again?”

Anna had also been an active participant in helping me find schools near a reputable pack. She had a history she was very open about now, but maybe it was just because she wanted to help protect me in the most honest way she could.

Anna was a woman of reason and rationality.

“Ok, yes sort of.” I agreed. “Anna I wanted an honest truth, because my parents obviously won’t give me any help on this one.”

“Yes?” Her voice sounded a little more hesitant.   
 “Ok, and please don’t laugh at me, what does it mean when you have a mate?” I heard a sharp intake of breath. “I don’t have one, calm down, it’s a question.”

“For someone raised by some of the most powerful wolves in North America, you should have some understanding.” She seemed to frown. “What is the part that doesn’t make sense.”

“So, I know it’s very permanent. I know that the humans don’t need to like each other, the wolves do.” I tried to think. “I know sometimes they just kind of choose for you. Like, they know this works for them and then you don’t have a say.”

“Ok, so let’s start there.” She stopped me. “You have a say, mostly. It really depends how good you are at controlling your wolf on that. You can keep her from someone. I’m going to embarrass you for a second but it’s probably partially to do with your hormones.” I groaned. “Listen, wolves…we have a high sex drive. That’s fine. Teenagers, I’m not that old I remember this from personal experience, also very high sex drive. You put those together and she might not want a mate per-say, she might genuinely be on edge because you haven’t gotten laid in a month.”

“Thank you, it’s been more than a month.” I know my face had to be red and I was whispering hoping my parents wouldn’t hear from the living room. I mean, they could hear my side but certainly not Anna’s.

“Ok, worse scenario even.” She pointed out. “Terrible scenario. You’re trying to keep two very similar natures from being themselves.”

“You’re telling me my solution—instead of just answering all my questions, mind you—is to stop worrying about my wolf and get myself laid?” I absolutely needed her to clarify this one because it was absurd.  
 “What’s got you so anxious about this?” 

I didn’t know where to begin.

“Oh. I see.” She seemed to think again very carefully at my silence. “You know that you’ve been attracted to him for a while. I don’t think it’s that big of a surprise, probably just makes it harder.” I opened my mouth and she cut me off before I could speak. “It’s that one, he came from England probably a decade or so before you were born after some…things.” No one ever told me why Ben had come here so many years ago. “You’ve always had a crush on him.”

“It makes it so hard.” I whined, laying on my bed. “Anna he’s just…I can’t explain what he looks like, I really can’t.”

“I’ve met him.” She assured. “Bit of an asshole, isn’t he? Though, I haven’t seen him in a while.”

“He’s never really been an asshole to me. He’s always been really sweet.” I argued. “Except recently.”

“I assume if he’s still alive, you haven’t slept with him or anything yet?” She prodded. “And that this is why you’re probably calling me?”

“We kissed, but he got really irritable afterwards. And then he kept an eye on me during the hunt,” She didn’t need to know all of those details just now. “His wolf took a liking to me.”

“Sounds safe.” She said, and I couldn’t tell if it was sarcasm until she followed it up with, “Isn’t he one of the ones who used to babysit you?”

My stomach dropped.

“I think that’s why there’s such a problem.”

“Yeah, I would imagine.” She agreed. “Not everyone is old enough that dating someone that was a child when they were thirty is normal. Of those, it’s really unlikely that someone is going to pick someone that they practically helped raise.”

“You think I should cool off.” I sighed, but she was right.

“I mean, yes.” She said finally. “I don’t think there’s anything bad about having a mate, Porsche. It’s a lot to decide, and I didn’t even really understand it when it happened. I think you kind of have to just learn the ropes through trial and error, but it doesn’t mean it’s something you want yet. If you think it’s right, go for it. My concern is that I really doubt his human will ever be thrilled that he’s making moves on someone he cradled, for various reasons.”

I thanked her and we chatted a little longer before I hung up finally to think things through. I was listing my pros and cons, something of a habit, when my dad knocked at the door.

I really didn’t want the words to come out of my mouth, but said “come in” almost out of habit.   
 “Hey,” He nodded to my bed and I moved over so he could sit. He gestured to the papers when he was comfortable. “What are all these?” He wasn’t right, he was upset. I don’t think it was with me this time either.

“I’m just weighing things out.” I gathered them together.

“You’re far more organized than your mother.” He chuckled.

“I learned from the best.” I shrugged, placing them next to me and upside-down so he couldn’t read them. “What’s up?”

“I wanted to apologize, again.” My parents both loved me, I’d never doubt that. My dad was just much more physically emotional, but wolves also tended to be touchy-feely. His hand was on my head and I felt like I was ten again. “I know I’ve been apologizing a lot lately. It has been a very long time since we had you at home, Porsche. That’s my fault, and I’m sorry for that, too.” He took a deep breath. “I think you’re right to want to study someplace far away from here. You’re incredibly smart and talented and what we have in the immediate area is great, but it doesn’t line up with your chosen interests. I…Bran and I will look into where you can go. Ok?”

I looked up at him hopefully.

“Don’t look at me like that, it’s not a promise.” He laughed a little louder when I hugged him. “It’s just that I’m going to try, ok?”

That was all I needed to know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love the comments this has gotten so far!


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